Igginz wrote:It seems to me that eighty percent or so of these mechs can barely stand on their own, if at all, from what I've seen of the hips and legs.

Something to consider when casting your vote

Or not, if you prefer. (I can understand promoting your own mech, but can we leave the negative politics for the politicians this time of year? )

lol, I know it seems that way, and there's an element of truth to it, but mine stands because that's something I believe in. There are several great mechs in the contest that look very playable and posable, even more so than mine. That gorilla one, for instance, is much better than mine and looks very sturdy. Same with the AIM one.

Anyway, I really don't want to be that nasty guy. I hope it didn't come across too much like that; I just believe in engineering I guess.

I understand that. I kind of feel the same way, but ended up making a compromise. Just to let folks in on a little secret, as I wouldn't want to get any votes under false pretenses, but the Gorilla isn't as stable as you might think.

The elbows are the weak point, but a ball joint was the only way I could conceive, with the parts I have, of giving the arms the flexibility I wanted, while still being able to stand on its own. As it is, he can do some decent gorilla chest-beating and such, but the four-point stance is the only way he can stand on his own, and I have to make sure the arms are pretty straight.

Mister Ed wrote:I understand that. I kind of feel the same way, but ended up making a compromise. Just to let folks in on a little secret, as I wouldn't want to get any votes under false pretenses, but the Gorilla isn't as stable as you might think.

The elbows are the weak point, but a ball joint was the only way I could conceive, with the parts I have, of giving the arms the flexibility I wanted, while still being able to stand on its own. As it is, he can do some decent gorilla chest-beating and such, but the four-point stance is the only way he can stand on his own, and I have to make sure the arms are pretty straight.

Advertising against your own mech... bold strategy!!

Seriously though, while we're on the topic of mildly disappointing shortcomings, I'm surprised how many mechs don't actually have controls in the cockpit (despite what the mods said about that). Now I'm not saying I am going to specifically not vote for those mechs, but it is definitely one aspect I will consider when placing votes.

I've found that a lot of mocs are more fragile than they appear. It's always nice to have something huge be solid and free standing, but I'm fine with a stand if required. You guys are building impossible machines. I won't fault them for bending to the laws of physics.

And about the cockpit controls, I like to see some sort of effort to make the interiors look "realistic", but we're in an age where even out cell phones look like a plate of black glass when switched off so I won't be disqualifying anyone for skimping on buttons and levers.

I'd probably be more concerned with strategy if I felt like I had a shot at winning.

Don't get me wrong. I love how my mech turned out. I just continue to be impressed by so many of the other mechs I'm seeing, and have lowered my expectations accordingly (though I would LOVE to be pleasantly surprised. Those prizes are outstanding!)

What was really interesting was seeing how sturdy SOME of the stuff I built actually was, considering the...unusual connections that I used to make them work like I wanted. Out of my whole mech, the thing I'm most proud of is the head. That gorilla's face came out wonderfully, I thought, even though I just started out with a bunch of pieces that I thought would make good facial details, and THEN had to figure out just how to make them fit together the right way. And the opening cockpit worked like a charm, just as I'd envisioned it, despite having a heck of a time figuring out how to attach the hinges in just the right place.

Igginz wrote:It seems to me that eighty percent or so of these mechs can barely stand on their own, if at all, from what I've seen of the hips and legs.

Something to consider when casting your vote

Just a little note: Every single one of us has muscles and an extremely intricate balancing system which constantly keep us from falling down. Now picture a LEGO mech with the same joint points as a human... ...but the mech obviously doesn't have muscles and an "intricate balancing system." Could this mech easily stand on its own? Probably not. My reasoning is that at some point, whether it be in size or weight (or both), a LEGO mech, simply because of the nature of the brick, just can't always balance the way we want it to. Also, the more legs a mech has, the easier it is for the mech to balance. So you really can't say a mech with 6 legs is better than a mech with 2 legs because it can "stand on its own."

Igginz wrote:It seems to me that eighty percent or so of these mechs can barely stand on their own, if at all, from what I've seen of the hips and legs.

Something to consider when casting your vote

Or not, if you prefer. (I can understand promoting your own mech, but can we leave the negative politics for the politicians this time of year? )

lol, I know it seems that way, and there's an element of truth to it, but mine stands because that's something I believe in. There are several great mechs in the contest that look very playable and posable, even more so than mine. That gorilla one, for instance, is much better than mine and looks very sturdy. Same with the AIM one.

Anyway, I really don't want to be that nasty guy. I hope it didn't come across too much like that; I just believe in engineering I guess.

I felt the same way. I rebuilt the legs 3 times on mine. I tried very hard to stay away from the bionicale ball joints, but had to use them on the hips and arms. I had to rebuild the torso a few times also to reduce weight so the legs could support it. Same with the arms. I had to go with the ball joints to save weight. My beefer system arms would tip it over.

Regardless I learned a lot and had fun. I can't wait to use what I learned to make another mech. But for now I have to return my living room / work room back from its current mess to its organized bins so my fiance doesn't kill me in my sleep

I took some more pics and added them to my gallery to show off its top, the glare kinda killed it before and to show of leg positions.

Pretty much. A few parts are rebuilt but it's still clearly a modified official set. I'm sorry but that does not qualify for the contest. I've PMed him just to make sure he sees this in case he wants to try again before the deadline.

lots of cool entries coming in, keep it up guys. fbtb has laid out some sweet prizes that deserve to be hard fought over. Even by mechs that have trouble standing up =) Thankfully mine stands up fine. I can even put him in some dramatic action poses.... ..... ..... ..... until i try to pose the freeze cannon. then he falls over more than joe pesci did in home alone. oh well. i can always fall back on the secondary polar bear weapon system and skate around on his hovercraft feet

Also, remember guys there is nothing that says the mech has to be the traditional "humanoid" (2 arms, 2 legs) shape, just minimum two legs are required. Just look at my mech, it's an insectoid with 6 legs, which allows my surprisingly heavy mech to still stand under its own weight. Or even Igginz future submission which looks somewhat traditional but has 3 legs.

Moral of the story, if you are having trouble, try to be unconventional while still following the rules. I just recently this year started building seriously and have slowly accumulated a meager collection, so I chose an unconventional mech which was much more fun to build in my opinion, and gave me the best shot I had with my limited resources available.

Also, on that same point, I agree with zhouston in that I worked very hard to follow the rules regarding cockpits (fully enclosed, controls, etc.) and I'm sure it will be a big consideration for everyone when it comes to voting. Again if this is a problem for you, think outside the box a little and don't be afraid to show it off.

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm ranting, but this is my first major MOC contest and I see this as a learning experience for me. With that in mind, I just want to make sure everyone is having as much fun as possible while still following the rules.

MotionOTheOcean wrote:Also, remember guys there is nothing that says the mech has to be the traditional "humanoid" (2 arms, 2 legs) shape, just minimum two legs are required. Just look at my mech, it's an insectoid with 6 legs, which allows my surprisingly heavy mech to still stand under its own weight. Or even Igginz future submission which looks somewhat traditional but has 3 legs

Troof. Someone questioned if a mech could go under water. I thought of course it can. So I googled "mech wiki" and AT-AT's came up as an example ^_^

yup I agree with MotionOfTheOcean I thought seriously about a 3 or 4 legged chassis. The engineer in me would let me do three legged cause the walking motion just doesn't make sense, and ultimately I lacked the parts for four sturdy legs. Most of my build is from 6866 Wolverines Chopper Showdown, and MBA kits 1-6. Lots of neat entries I was pretty intimidated putting my mech up. Hopefully I'll be able to get some better pics up on Flicker.

Can we change our main three pics if we get better ones before the deadline as long as the post keeps the specified three only pics? Had to get mine up quick as I'm in the storm path.

The cockpit is in the back, and detaches as an escape vehicle (... as Raven is used to fighting through an out-of-body "soul-self", this rear-facing configuration does not cause her any disorientation). Click on picture to see the cockpit detached.

Bizarro saw Lois Lane on TV doing a story on monkeys and their endangered habitat. Lex Luthor also appeared promoting his new green-energy Power Armor. Being Bizarro, he assumed Luthor planned to attack Lois. But, how to beat Lex’s Power Armor? Just then a mysterious meteorite with red energy crystals – from a “galaxy far far away” – fell near his Graveyard of Solitude. “Red stop green! Bizarro stop Luthor. Bizarro save Lois!”

Bizarro came up with an idea for his own armor to defeat Luthor. “Lois like monkeys. Monkeys like bananas. Bizarro use ‘bananas’ to stop Luthor. Bananas!!” Thus was born, Bizarro’s Mego-Bananas!!!!

Mego-Bananas is an transformable mech – like a primate, it can stand on two legs, or it can function on 4 legs. Weapons / Armaments include:-Main chest “S” firing laser beam-Double barreled laser guns on each wrist-Missile cannon on right shoulder-Attack chain with two large meteorite fragments-Massive crushing hammer-Quad blade slicer-“Angry Gorilla” charge attack-Jet flight pack-Hydraulic jump equipped lower legs-Dual “butt” cannons